CNN's John Avlon Blasts Tea Party Congressmen for 'Demagoguing' the Debt

Once again, Tea Party-critic John Avlon took aim at "hyper-partisanship" in Congress but focused the blame squarely on House Republicans while saving a tiny bit of blame for Democrats. In a July 25 op-ed for CNN.com, he hit Republicans for walking away from a generous deal by President Obama to settle the debt ceiling debate.

"We are learning that activists and ideologues pushing anti-tax pledges have nothing to do with the responsibility of governing," Avlon berated Tea Party members of Congress, while accusing them of opposing the bipartisan plan set forth by the "Gang of Six" simply because Obama approved of it.

Avlon also emphasized that the vote to raise the debt ceiling is "usually a routine action," and apparently should have been accomplished already. True, but he fails to account for the Republican argument that the country cannot afford to keep raising the debt ceiling routinely without enacting sufficient spending cuts.

Among some of the descriptions of Tea Party Republians Avlon provides are "anti-tax absolutists," "critics who come armed with their own facts," and that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) practices "situation ethics." Is Avlon the one being hyper-partisan now?

However, this is simply par-for-the-course from the man who thought the 2010 CPAC's theme "Saving Freedom" was "a little extreme." He also has claimed the Tea Party wouldn't have difficulty supporting Reagan today, for his not being conservative enough.

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